Existing laws may not be able to control behaviour on Facebook and other
social networking sites, the Director of Public Prosecutions has said.

Keir Starmer said that the existing legislation usually invoked in prosecutions over comments on social networks had been designed with different purposes in mind. Legislation including the Communications Act and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act were, he said, written to control telephones and public places. The DPP said it was “a perfectly respectable position to take” to say that prosecutors should not apply them to social media and look instead to parliament for new guidance.

Mr Starmer added, however, that “Given that these cases are difficult and they attract a lot of attention, it is very tempting to say go and see you MP because that’s the law. But we’ve deliberately chosen to try to make whatever parliament’s passed work and we’re going to try that exercise until it’s demonstrated that it’s impossible.”

In recent weeks a number of people have been investigated by the police after posting offensive and abusive messages online.

Matthew Woods, an unemployed 19-year-old from Chorley, Lancashire, was jailed for 12 weeks for comments he posted on Facebook about the murdered youngster April Jones, while a Liverpool man was arrested after praising the alleged killer of Manchester police officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes. Cases involving the abuse of Conservative MP Louise Mensch, footballer Fabrice Muamba and diver Tom Daley have also attracted the attention of prosecutors.

Chief police officers are becoming increasingly concerned at the volume of cases emerging and fear they could be inundated with demands to investigate trivial matters better dealt with by the websites themselves.

They have welcomed the consultation being held by the DPP, which is aiming to clarify the law. Draft guidance will be produced prior to final guidance. It is thought one of the likely outcomes of the consultation will be that social networking sites will be asked to do more to deal with those who publish offensive comments on their pages.

In the short term, Mr Starmer said he could make all decisions on the prosecution of offensive behaviour on Facebook centrally, in the same way that his office currently deals with decisions on prosecutions over assisted suicide.

Andy Trotter, who speaks on media for the Association of Chief Police Officers said: “ACPO welcomes the intention to issue guidance to police and prosecutors and we look forward to participating in the consultation process.

“Many offensive comments are made every day on social media and guidance will assist the police to focus on the most serious matters. There is not only the matter of principle to be addressed but also the practicality of dealing with thousands of potential offences.”

The DPP is expected to make his recommendations before the end of the year. A key part is defining what is "grossly offensive", and Mr Starmer said that the need to protect free speech would inevitably make some people uncomfortable.